


Play Your Passions Wisely

by firefright



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Family Feels, Gen, Grieving, Minor Character Death, Music
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-14
Updated: 2015-09-14
Packaged: 2018-04-20 18:25:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4797686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firefright/pseuds/firefright
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tim plays the piano.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Play Your Passions Wisely

**Author's Note:**

> I could not get the image of Tim playing the piano out of my head and so this thing spilled out. It plays loose with canon events for the sake of the narrative, but then what doesn't in fanfic? XD
> 
> Also I don't claim to be any kind of expert with classical music and the piano as much I enjoy it. The music choices referenced were picked with the help of youtube.

Tim plays the piano.

It's not a skill of his he particularly covets, or even exercises with great frequency. The lessons had been an afterthought of his parents when he was a child and trying to be the dutiful son he had attended them with all the devotion he could muster, hoping that if he proved himself in the task they had set for him the next time they were home they would stay a little longer. A child's hope, one that had always been proven wrong.

Still, he kept the lessons, even as he got older, even as the teacher his parents provided praised Tim's technical skill but shook her head at his lack of innate talent. 'Passion' was the word she used to describe what was missing. You don't have the passion for this, Tim.

He didn't begrudge her those words, not when they were true. Tim poured his passion into his nights and his camera, chasing capes across the city with little left over for anything else. 

By the time he wore the cape himself the lessons were only a memory. Another piece of a lonely childhood he'd sooner forget and it took something earth-shattering to drive him back to the instrument again.

The piano in Wayne Manor was long neglected, covered in a sheet and shut off in one of the many never used rooms. He found it the first time by accident, wandering in a slow daze after his father's murder, and didn't think twice before ripping the cover off and sitting down at the worn stool. Tim let his fingers ghost over the ivory keys soundlessly for over an hour, toying with the idea of breaking the silence that had hung over so much of his life and now felt more constricting and oppressive than ever.

In the end he left without playing a single note.

*

For the next few weeks he avoids the music room entirely, focusing instead on the chase. But inevitably he drifts back to the piano, called by the shade of the boy he'd once been, who had hoped so desperately to find approval and love if he only did what his parents wanted of him.

Tim plays for the first time in years and his fingers turn clumsy, hesitant, stumbling over the notes of music long memorised. He blames it on lack of practice and not the blurring of his vision as he stubbornly, furiously ,keeps hitting the keys until he plays the piece, Mozart's Sonata Facile, without hitting a single sour note.

It doesn't make him feel better.

*

Alfred's influence shows the next time he returns to the piano room. The air is different, fresher, the curtains are pulled back to let the sun in and there is not a single speck of dust to be found. He isn't shocked by the fact the old butler overheard him playing before; like everyone he is long at peace with the fact that nothing happens in the manor without Alfred's knowledge . 

The gesture is touching and when next Tim thinks he hears Alfred's footsteps in the corridor outside he plays Handel, projecting his own voiceless gratitude to a man who has nothing but endless kindness for those in his charge.

*

Dick's discovery of his musical skill is heralded by the rush of footsteps, his shout of surprise accompanied by a delighted laugh before his eldest brother is somehow wriggling his way onto the stool beside Tim, dismissive of the fact it was only really meant to hold one person.

They play Chopsticks at his insistence, because his smile is bright and eager when Tim tries to show him how. It's the most fun Tim has ever had at a piano, despite the way Dick hopelessly butchers the notes over and over. Dick's enthusiasm is as infectious as ever their hands and fingers collide over the keys until it's not so much a song as a joyous rush of noise. 

Eventually the session is brought to an end when Dick tackles Tim off the stool for his good natured ribbing, to tickle and wrestle him on the floor until the teenager can't breathe for laughing.

*

He never see's Bruce, never hears him, but Dick tells Tim once that he saw him stood outside the door while he was playing, head tilted and eyes closed as he listened to the melody of music.

*

Cassandra develops a talent for finding him when he's playing, even when Tim is sure she's not in the house at the time. She asks him to teach her properly, waves away his stuttered excuses that he's really not that good and she should find a real teacher until he finally takes her hands in his and shows her which keys are which.

Their sessions are quiet, peaceful, and the first time Cass plays through a piece on her own without a single mistake he feels a burst of accomplishment in his chest as great as her own.

*

When Damian finds out about it he sneers, scowls and makes out that he's heard better, to which Tim just shakes his head and keeps playing. He's used to the newest Robin's attitude by now and resigned to the fact that they'll probably never get along. But he is surprised when, despite the scathing review, Damian still settles down on the chaise lounge in the corner of the room with his book, trying very hard to pretend like his presence there is coincidental and he isn't listening at all.

*

Jason is a surprise. Jason is always a surprise.

He storms into the room like a self-destructive force of nature, throwing the door open with enough strength that it rebounds off the wall with a sound like a gunshot and breaks Tim's concentration.

There's a moment where they stare at each other, equally wary in the sudden silence. Tim watches as Jason rocks back on his heels, like he suddenly doesn't seem to know what to do with himself, like he hadn't even realised Tim was in here when he came storming through the door despite the music. Every line of his posture reads aggressive defence, it's in the hunch of his shoulders and the balls of his fists, the way his jaw clenches tight enough to hurt.

Tim recognises the signs for what they are, quickly guessing that there was another fight with Bruce and this is Jason looking for escape. The windows of the piano room face the front of the house, offering a clean getaway to people like them and he wonders if Jason knew that when he lived here before; when he was a boy without so many scars on his heart.

Quickly Tim turns away, blood rushing to his cheeks as he very carefully doesn't say a word. He doesn't know what inspires him to start playing again, Chopin flowing from his fingertips, but he runs with it, praying that Jason will go on his way and leave him be. 

The door shuts and he's not alone. Tim keeps playing. Jason's footsteps prowl closer and he keeps playing, keeps his words locked inside him as the older man sinks down onto the floor beside the stool and leans back against it with shaking shoulders until he's very nearly touching Tim's thigh. 

He keeps his eyes averted as his fingers weave a spell that speech could never hope to accomplish, afraid that even a single glance would shatter everything. Tim plays and plays until his fingers ache, eyes eventually closing as he goes away from the memorised sheet music and into something new.

Passion he thinks, passion like his teacher used to tell him he didn't have. He loses himself in it until he finally opens his eyes again to see the open window and the absence of Jason's presence at his side.

*

Tim plays the piano. It's not a skill he chose for himself, nor one he has an innate talent for, but his family listens and that's enough for him.

**Author's Note:**

> I totally gave myself JayTim feels at the end there, if I can pull myself away from JayDick I'll have to write more of them soon.


End file.
